Purchase and Installation of a Compactor Storage System in the Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside

拥有约300万个标本，UCR的昆虫学研究博物馆（ERM）是北美20个最大的昆虫收藏之一，也是严格以大学为基础的10个最大的收藏之一。 鉴于昆虫代表了我们生物多样性的大部分，这种多样性在西南部最高，ERM是我们国家最重要的生物资源库之一。 不幸的是，机构风险管理的空间严重不足，妨碍了对收集的资料进行适当的管理，抑制了增长，影响了其存放实地研究和生物防治工作参考资料和凭证的能力。 迫切需要增加办公空间，但在可预见的将来，没有或不会有这样的办公空间。 唯一可行的解决办法是提高现有空间的储存能力。 此外，目前的储藏柜是不够的;很少提供气密密封，以阻止破坏性的博物馆害虫。 通过根据要求升级到具有新的高质量橱柜的节省空间的压缩机存储系统，ERM可以增加超过200万个额外标本的存储空间，同时改善标本的获取，收集工作空间，物理组织，地震安全和虫害控制。ERM持续维护和获取材料对物种鉴定至关重要，以支持研究，应用科学和昆虫学新生的培训。 UCR昆虫学系包括许多教师，工作人员和学生，他们在ERM中工作和存款标本，并且ERM参与了全球贷款计划，因此其标本在世界各地被利用。 ERM的寄生蜂收藏是世界上最多样化和增长最快的收藏之一，与大多数类似的收藏不同，其50多万个标本中的大多数都有宿主记录，使其成为世界上最有价值的农业害虫有益寄生蜂信息来源之一。 这种生物防治剂（和害虫）的参考材料对农业的价值不能被高估，因为害虫防治的基础是准确识别所涉及的各种生物的能力，并且与加州农业的密切联系将ERM置于该州深远的生物防治研究的重要地位。 ERM的蜜蜂收藏同样被广泛认为是世界上最重要的蜜蜂收藏之一，超过20万个标本代表了美国本土3,000种蜜蜂的一半以上，其中一些是对农业重要的传粉者。 机构风险管理收集的资料也越来越多地用于作出与环境有关的决策（例如，多物种保护计划），包括环境顾问的培训，以及在加州和其他地方担任生物多样性调查的储存库和鉴定中心。 ERM本身在整个南加州进行了广泛的持续收集工作，包括对几个保护区和限制区的调查，这不仅对评估目前的多样性至关重要，而且对评估过去也至关重要，因为许多标本都有40-100年的历史，代表了灭绝、衰退或在上世纪发生了重大变化的物种或种群;一个关于加州昆虫的不可替代的数据来源，以及一些国家最独特和/或受威胁的栖息地。 ERM还为从事城市害虫控制、公共卫生和环境生物学工作的人员以及公众提供了宝贵的资源。 它在UCR的教育推广计划中发挥着重要作用，并对学校和个人的要求做出回应。 它收集和传播信息，包括通过互联网，地方和国家媒体利用机构风险管理工作人员的专门知识。

With some 3 million specimens, UCR's Entomology Research Museum (ERM) is one of the 20 largest insect collections in North America, and one of the 10 largest strictly University-based collections. Given that insects represent the bulk of our biodiversity, and this diversity is highest in the southwest, the ERM is one of our nation's most important biological resource repositories. The ERM is, unfortunately, operating at a significant space deficit, preventing proper curation of the collection and inhibiting growth, affecting its ability to house reference material and vouchers for field research and biocontrol work. The need for additional space is immediate and compelling, but no such space is or will be available for the foreseeable future. The only viable solution is to improve the storage capacity of the existing space. Also, the present storage cabinets are inadequate; few offer an air-tight seal to deter destructive museum pests. By upgrading to a space-efficient compactor storage system with new high-quality cabinets, as requested, the ERM can add storage space for over 2 million additional specimens and simultaneously improve access to specimens, collection workspace, physical organization, earthquake safety, and pest control. The continued maintenance and acquisition of material by the ERM is vital to the identification of species in support of research, applied science, and for the training of new students of Entomology. The UCR Entomology department includes numerous faculty, staff, and students that work with and deposit specimens in the ERM, and the ERM participates in a global loan program, so its specimens are utilized all over the world. The ERM's parasitic wasp collection is one of the world's most diverse and fastest growing, and unlike most similar collections, the majority of its over 500,000 specimens have host records, making it one of the world's most valuable sources of information about beneficial parasitoids of agricultural pests. The value of this reference material of biocontrol agents (and pests) to agriculture cannot be overestimated, since the foundation of pest control is the ability to accurately identify the various organisms involved, and close ties to California's agriculture place the ERM in a recognized position of importance for the state's far-reaching biocontrol research. The ERM's bee collection is likewise widely recognized as one of the world's most important, with over 200,000 specimens representing over half of the 3,000 bee species native to the US, several of these being pollinators important to agriculture. The ERM's collections are also increasingly being used in making decisions relating to the environment (e.g., Multispecies Conservation Plans), including training of environmental consultants, plus acting as a repository and identification center for biodiversity surveys in California and elsewhere. The ERM itself has extensive ongoing collecting efforts throughout southern California, including surveys of several protected and restricted areas, and is not only crucial in assessing the present diversity, but the past, as well, as many specimens are 40-100 years old, representing species or populations that are extinct, in decline, or have changed substantially over the last century; a source of irreplaceable data on Californian insects, and some of the nation's most unique and/or threatened habitats. The ERM further serves as a valuable resource for people working with urban pest control, public health, and environmental biology, as well as for the general public. It plays an important role in UCR's educational outreach programs, and responds to requests by schools and individuals. It gathers and disseminates information, including through the Internet, and local and national media draw on the expertise of the ERM staff.